NEW HOLLAND – It was not quite 134 combined points, but the winning team stayed the same. Notre Dame Green Pond opened its 2025 season by defeating Garden Spot 21-3 on a beautiful Friday night at Garden Spot High School Stadium.
The two squads played one of the wildest games any football fan will ever see in the 2024 season opener as the Crusaders outlasted the Spartans 71-64 up in Easton. This time, it was the defense that paved the way for Notre Dame.
“We were not looking for 71 points and certainly were not looking to give up 64 points either,” Crusaders head coach Phil Stambaugh said. “That was something that happened last year, and I told how tough Garden Spot was going to be to our kids and especially coming out on the road this time. Our defense played outstanding tonight and gave up just three points.
The Crusaders opened with the ball and early on it seemed it had the potential for another high-scoring tilt with the Spartans. Notre Dame put together an 11-play 60-yard drive to take an early 7-0 lead at the 8:25-mark of the first quarter. The drive was successful behind a trio of third down conversions, the final one being a 2-yard touchdown plunge from senior quarterback Matt Bodnar.
“I thought we came out fast in the first quarter and were really clicking,” Bodnar said. “I ended up not playing my cleanest game and I need to pick it up a little bit. I thought I did some good things here and there but at the end of the day I need to be better.”
Garden Spot looked to have the answer on its opening drive when quarterback Sean Musselman sped past the Crusaders defense for a 49-yard touchdown run, but a holding penalty wiped out the score and the drive itself. Bodnar went back to work and extended the Notre Dame lead to 14-0 with a 25-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Jonathan Striba.
A 47-yard run from Striba on the ensuing drive set the Crusaders up at the Spartans 33-yard line before an interception by Gabe Martin ended the threat. Notre Dame saw another chance at extending its lead vanish when Nyechay Lawless dropped a short pass with complete open field in front of him. Garden Spot put together its best drive of the night when they marched 72 yards in 20 plays and got their only points of the night on a 33-yard field goal by Zach Martin in the final minute of the second quarter.
Despite the points scored, the Spartans saw their best shot at a touchdown slip away after a sack on 2nd-and-Goal from the 3-yard line.
“We were overaggressive, and they were using our aggressiveness against us in the first half,” Stambaugh said. “We slowed it down a bit to adjust and play against the read a little bit better and our defense was outstanding tonight. Holding them to just three points after they got inside the 5-yard line was a huge win for us in that moment of the game.”
Musselman fumbled on an option pass to open the second half to put the Crusaders at the Spartans 22-yard line. However, a missed 25-yard field goal kept the Notre Dame lead at just 14-3 early in the fourth quarter. The Crusaders defense stood to task and forced a pair of Garden Spot punts, the second being just a 12-yard punt out of bounds to give Notre Dame good field position. This time Bodnar and the offense converted as he found a wide open Alex Clark in the end zone from 25 yards out to make it a 21-3 game with 1:05 left in the third quarter.
“There has been no shortage of playmakers here at Notre Dame since I have been here,” Bodnar said. “We are used to having depth on the team and I love being able to spread the ball around and give everyone a shot.”
The Crusaders defense began overwhelming the Spartans in the second half and Notre Dame consumed most of the fourth quarter clock on the ground to finish off the win.
Bodnar went 18-of-29 for 246 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception. He added his touchdown on the ground to play a role in all three Notre Dame touchdowns. Seven different Crusaders had a reception with Lawless having the most yards at 70 behind four catches. The Crusaders held a decisive 403-193 yards advantage for the game.
Musselman was bottled up for just 32 rushing yards on 20 carries and was sacked four times. He went 7-of-13 for just 59 yards through the air.
The expectations were high for the Crusaders coming into 2025 with all the returning talent and they stay on the road next week at Salisbury before a big tilt in two weeks with North Schuylkill, the only team to beat them in 2024. Garden Spot on the contrary will be home for a second straight week and will host Lebanon.
“I thought our conditioning and depth held up well tonight,” Stambaugh said. “What I want to see now is consistency and clean up some of the critical errors we had at moments tonight.”
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Notre Dame GP | 14 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Garden Spot | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | NDGP | Bodnar, 2 run (Cintron kick) | 8:25 |
| 1 | NDGP | Striba, 25 pass from Bodnar (Cintron kick) | 3:33 |
| 2 | GS | Z. Martin 33 FG | 0:23 |
| 3 | NDGP | Clark, 25 pass from Bodnar (Cintron kick) | 1:05 |
Team statistics
| Notre Dame GP | Garden Spot | |
| First downs | 20 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 29-157 | 41-134 |
| Passing yards | 246 | 59 |
| Total yards | 403 | 193 |
| Passes COMP-ATT-INT | 18-29-1 | 7-13-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 2-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-45.5 | 6-39.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-55 | 5-40 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Notre Dame GP: Striba 9-92, Frederick 3-24, Gordon 6-18, Bodnar 8-10, Clark 2-8, Hull 1-5
Garden Spot: Douglas 7-48, Musselman 20-32, G. Martin 7-30, Pemberton 6-19, Swavely 1-5
PASSING
Notre Dame GP: Bodnar 18-29-1—246
Garden Spot: Musselman 7-13-0–59
RECEIVING
Notre Dame GP: Clark 5-59, Lawless 4-70, Striba 4-48, Gordon 2-7, Driscoll 1-45, Boyd 1-13, Diaz 1-4
Gaden Spot: G. Martin 3-18, Douglas 2-31, Smucker 1-2
INTERCEPTIONS
Notre Dame GP: None
Garden Spot: G. Martin
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Notre Dame GP: Perone
Garden Spot: None